Tony Stark couldn't hold in the exasperated sigh that left his lips even if he wanted to.
Pepper Potts, his newly appointed co-ceo of Stark Industries, who he should really fire for this, was making him go to his third gala of the week and it was only Tuesday.
The gala, a massive masquerade ball, in question was supposed to be the gala of the year according to every article out there and Tony's mission from the mouth of Pepper Potts herself was to be on his best behavior and to try and have fun on his date.
Tony Stark, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist would never admit this out loud but he was quite nervous about the fact that he was about to go on a blind date. No matter what bribery he threw at Pepper though, she didn't budge in telling him who his date was with even with the offer of those expensive pumps she had been eyeing for ages. All she told him was where they were going to meet and that their masks were matching red and gold.
Tony checked his watch a third time that night as he stood in front of Gotham Hall*, the location of the gala. His date was late. He raked his hands through his hair, another frustrated sigh leaving his lips. Tony needed to make a snazzy fashionably late appearance to this particular gala and he didn't think he could wait any longer for his date otherwise he'd just be late and not merely fashionably late.
This gala was raising money to help better foster children and orphanages across the world and was being run by a rival company of Stark Industries. The company's name was Marauders Incorporated and had made many advances in helping children with special needs, who were homeless, abused children, and foster children as well.
This was also the year that the face behind Marauder Incorporated would be making their first physical appearance.
Tony shifted on his feet wondering what he should do next when a voice at the top of the stairs spoke out to him.
"Are you Tony Stark?" a deep male voice questioned, his deep voice echoed down the stairs towards Tony.
The media had a hate/love relationship with Tony Stark, always something in the news about his latest hook up instead of the advances in clean energy that Stark Industries was achieving and while mainly most of those hookups had been female companions the media had always made assumptions that Tony may have been bisexual.
As Tony turned towards the voice he forgot his own as his thoughts told him that the media was probably one hundred percent right about him being bisexual as he took in the individual at the top of the stairs. Striking gray eyes surrounded by a red mask with gold accents pierced Tony's gaze. The man had on black Italian leather shoes and was wearing a deliciously dark Tom Ford suit. His long slightly curled black hair stopped just below his shoulders and accentuated the man's cheekbones.
"Are you Tony Stark then?" he asked again once more, a roguish smirk accompanying his face.
It was like his brain had misfired at the smirk because all Tony could do was helplessly nod his head in response. A light almost noticeable blush stained Tony's ears, he felt like an idiot for getting slightly flustered, but, damn, was this man insanely attractive.
The man bounded down the steps, now closer up Tony realized the other man was slightly taller than him as well.
Holding out his hand to his date Tony let an almost relaxed smile across his face. The other man lifted up Tony's hand, and as his lips grazed across Tony's knuckles Tony felt the light blush he had spread down his neck slowly.
"I apologize for being late," the man's smile strained slightly, "there was a bit of an emergency inside that needed my attention."
Tony wondered what kind of emergency would call the dashing man's attention away from the time, but before he could ask his arm was looped in with the man standing next to him and he was being escorted inside.
Gotham Hall was dressed to impress, the nine thousand square foot ballroom was half full of dining tables, each one had a place card and were decorated with lush green and blue decorations. The other half of the ballroom had a string quartet playing and enough room for fifty people to dance. Yellow and red streamers hung down from the seventy foot ceiling and the violin music echoed beautifully off the ornate stained glass skylight. With the candlelit dining and the string quartets crescendo the mood was extremely romantic.
Tony felt a bit off balance and a little overwhelmed, he should have been on his a-game, this wasn't something new for him. Tony had been to a million other gala's before but the man who had his arm placed lightly over Tony's waist was throwing him for a loop, and Tony still did not know the mysterious man's name.
As if sensing that Tony was thinking about him the man began to speak.
"Tell me about yourself, Tony."
Normally when people asked about him, Tony was expected to tell them all about how he had been kidnapped in Afghanistan and the story of how Iron Man came to be. A dark look entered his eyes, despite the act he was putting on for the media Tony Stark was still not fully over everything that had happened to him. He kept himself occupied in his lab for hours on end just so that he wouldn't wake up screaming to the nightmares. Tony rubbed at his arc reactor and grinded his teeth together, he was about to make a cocky reply about how it's been all over the news when the stranger spoke again.
"I don't listen to gossip rags much, and from what Pepper has told me it must have been an experience that is too painful to think about. I wasn't trying to pry, I know how horrifying it is to be locked up against your will for a long period of time."
A similar look of dread crossed the handsome man's stormy eyes and Tony believed him, that the man had experienced something similar and could actually relate to Tony. The look vanished within seconds as if it had never been there at all but Tony had seen it.
"Thank you, for not prying that is, I'll admit it has been rough these past few months but I'm ready to be better than ever for myself and my company," that wasn’t the first time that Tony had uttered those words but it was the first time that he had truly believed them and for that reason alone he allowed a real smile to grace his lips.
Tony glanced up at his date then, a smile still in place, and noticed that the man had gone still. A crimson color stained his dates cheeks, going down his neck and as Tony glanced at the collar of his dates shirt he wondered if that blush went further. As Tony's eyes slowly wandered back up he noticed his date Adam's apple as the man swallowed almost audibly, as if suddenly parched. Now it was Tony's turn to smirk handsomely, an all too knowing look crossing his face, maybe he wouldn't have to fire Pepper after all.
The man cleared his throat once then a second time, "Would you care to get a drink this evening?" He led them over to the champagne table while Tony's smirk grew wider, guessing he wasn't the only one being affected by his date.
They both grabbed a flute of champagne and were about to drink it when a ringtone started to sound in the man's pocket. The man pulled his phone out to answer, the name on it 'Moony' flashing in Tony's direction, and with an apologetic look towards Tony and a quick, "I'll be right back it's an important call," the man excused himself from the table to answer.
Tony downed his champagne, wondering what the call was about. Grabbing another glass of champagne he pondered on why he felt so flustered around his date, he was about to down his second glass of the refreshingly cool drink when he heard a quiet sniffle coming from underneath the table.
Tony slowly lowered his drink back onto the table, thinking he must be imagining things when the sniffle sounded again. Tony crouched down onto the floor and lifted the table covering up to get a better look and there underneath the table was a small boy.
The boy had tears welling up in the most amazing green eyes that Tony had ever seen. Tony took quick notice of the lightning bolt scar across the boy's forehead and the bruises on the kids arms and the one peeking out from the kids shirt on his collarbone.
"You alright there, kid?" Tony put up his hand to reach in to see if the kid was okay but when the child saw his hand raised he flinched back and curled into a tighter ball. More tears fell from the child's eyes and Tony felt his heart break at the sight of the tears. "It's okay," Tony spoke to the kid softly, "I'm not going to hurt you, everything's alright."
The child looked up at Tony then and, hopefully sensing that Tony was speaking the truth, the child launched himself into his arms. Tony's hands automatically wrapped themselves around the too thin child.
"Now how did you get to be under the table, little man?" Tony had not expected there to be kids here, certainly not unattained ones. The child ducked his head down, an ashamed red hue rising in the kids cheeks.
"I'm sorry, sir,” the boy sniffled. “I just wanted to find my Paddy, but there were too many people here and I got lost and scared so I hid under the table."
Tony lifted the child up, did the child mean his daddy? Whatever the kid meant Tony would help in any way he could.
"What's your name kid?” he asked kindly.
The child opened his mouth to answer when a shouted "Harry," came towards them.
It was Tony's date and there was another man with him, this one with shaggy graying light brown hair and warm brown eyes. The two of them were rushing towards Tony and the kid with their arms outstretched. Tony's date reached them first, he wrapped his arms around both Tony and the kid.
"Why did you run off on Remus like that Harry? You had the both of us very concerned for your safety." The man pulled back to check over the kid, Harry, in Tony's arms still.
"I'm sorry, I just wanted to see you, Paddy. I'm sorry, Moony," the kid mumbled to the other man, Remus, an odd name Tony thought to himself.
"It's alright, little cub, just don’t let it happen again, alright?” Tony’s date said softly to the boy. “You've only been with us for a week, but we both love you very much and don't want to see anything bad happen to you."
Tony's date leaned down, Tony could smell the faint cologne coming off the man's suit, and gave the kid an exaggerated kiss on his forehead making the kid giggle.
"Let's get you back to Moony, it's way past your bedtime, little pup.” The man lifted Harry out of Tony's arms, passing him off to his friend.
"But I don't want to go to bed, I'm not even tired," Harry's mouth opened in a yawn, contradicting his pouty ‘I'm not tired’.
Tony’s date smiled fondly at the boy. "Tell you what, if you go with Moony right now we'll do a Harry day tomorrow. Whatever you want to do. How does that sound?"
Harry took a moment to decide, but it was obvious that the answer was going to be yes to the three men standing around him. The boy's eyes had lit up the moment Tony's date had said whatever Harry wanted to do. Remus walked away with Harry and then it was just Tony and his date, the silence between them comforting rather than awkward.
His date was about to ask him a question when Tony blurted out, “So you're a dad then.”
The man griminced at the statement. "Not exactly," he answered back, "Harry's father was my best friend while we were in school together and his parents were killed when he was one. I was supposed to take care of him but certain circumstances led me to being unavailable. I didn't get custody of Harry until about a week ago. As much as I love the kid and as much as he feels like my son, I feel like I'd be betraying James, Harry's father, if Harry ever called me dad."
That was a lot for Tony to process, that would explain why his date was at this particular function though.
"Don't think of it as betraying your friend, you're a good man who's raising a boy who needs you from what I can see,” Tony assured him, speaking from the heart. “He already cares about you. I would have given anything to know that my father loved me and you can show him that."
His date reached out to squeeze Tony's hand, it was obvious that what Tony had said meant a lot to him. "Would you care to dance, Tony?" His voice sent goosebumps up Tony's arm.
Tony nodded his head in reply, the string quartet was playing So Close.
"As long as I get to lead the next dance," they both grinned at each other as Tonys date led them both to the dance floor. Swinging Tony around the taller man took the lead.
He was an elegant dancer, pulling Tony in closer, their bodies barely centimeters apart. Tony's head was on his partner's shoulder as they slowly swayed together.
"This might be the last dance of the night, is this your way of asking me out for another date, Tony Stark?”
His date spun him in a circle and Tony took that as an invitation to take the lead and he dipped his date in a low arch as the climax of the song rang out.
"That's exactly what I'm asking," Tony said. He looked into his date's stormy gray eyes, glancing down at his lips. As his date was lifted back up Tony leaned in breathing in the same air, biting his lip Tony asked him in a breathy voice the question he'd been dying to ask him since Tony saw him on the steps.
“As a follow up, do you mind if I kiss you?”
His date nodded, eyes gleaming in the candlelight. Tony wrapped his arms around his date's broad shoulders, sinking his finger into the tresses of his date's hair; he slowly lowered his date's head down to meet his own lips.
The kiss was chaste but it made Tony's blood sing. The hair on his arms rose as his date's hands came down to rest on Tony's lower back, lips that felt like the piece to his puzzle pressed gently back against his own. As his partner's tongue lightly grazed his own lips Tony let out a breathy whine that had the both of them melting more firmly into the kiss that they shared.
They both pulled themselves back at the same time, almost forgetting that they were in a room of crowded people and not caring for a second.
Tony put his head back on his partner's shoulder, mind reeling from the kiss. The two of them would definitely be going out again. Tony pulled back to look at his date.
"I just realized you still haven't introduced yourself." Tony couldn't believe he still hadn't asked, stunned that he had completely forgotten that he still did not know the identity of his partner.
"You'll probably find out in a moment," his date answered, looking over to the stage with that same roguish smirk on his face.
"Ladies and gentlemen, now that the final dance has commenced, we are here today to finally put a face to Marauders Inc," a lady with bubblegum pink hair was on the stage making the announcement that everyone here was anticipating. "Thank you to all the donors we've had tonight, we've hit our goal and earned more than 1.2 million dollars." The applause in the ballroom was deafening. "And now, for the moment you've all been waiting for, introducing the founder of Marauders Incorporated please give a big warm welcome to Sirius Black."
Tony clapped along with everyone else while also looking around to see who would step forward. His date took a step towards the stage, pulling off his mask as he walked. He turned his face back towards Tony and as Tony's jaw dropped in shock, sent a cheeky wink his way before going up the platform to the stage. Tony couldn't believe his eyes. The man who Pepper had set him up with, the kind gentleman who had adopted a son, the man who he had danced with, who kissed him and gave him goosebumps was the same person who's rival company was Stark Industries.
As Sirius Black took the microphone and turned towards the crowd he sent a blinding smile in Tony's direction and in that moment Tony knew he was in a world of trouble and that maybe, just maybe, it was all going to be worth it.